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Metis Nation welcomes appointment of David Ramsay as Minister of Natural Resources - will press for early meeting with Premier Dalton McGuinty to establish new relationship called for in Supreme Court Decision in R v. Powley

Ottawa,

Oct. 23, 2003

The Metis Nation of Ontario (MNO) welcomes the announcement that David Ramsay, MPP for Timiskaming-Cochrane, has been appointed Minister for Natural Resources.

"We look very positively upon the appointment of David Ramsay as the new Minister for the Ministry of Natural Resources", said MNO President, Tony Belcourt.

"In light of the landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada to recognize the Metis right to harvest for food, it is imperative that we have a minister who will be open to dialogue with us to insure a positive working relationship which recognizes the Metis right while respecting our joint values of conservation and preservation of the environment. I believe we have a minister who we can work with, and we are looking forward to getting on with that task with him immediately," Mr. Belcourt added.

Mr. Belcourt says he will also press for an early meeting with Premier
Dalton McGuinty, who has retained Cabinet responsibility for Intergovernmental Relations.

"It would seem to us that in this dual role, the Premier is the logical
person we should deal with in developing a new relationship with Ontario and Canada, as called for in the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision in R v. Powley," said Mr. Belcourt.

"We anticipate that the new Minister responsible for Native Affairs,
Attorney General Michael Bryant, will take a fresh approach to his portfolio
responsibilities and we look forward to working with him as well" added
Mr. Belcourt However, it must be recognized that the long-standing adversarial relationship between Ontario and the Metis people was led by the Attorney General in the past. We need to break that cycle and develop a new relationship based on the role of the Crown to preserve and protect the survival of the Metis as a people and on a principal of the implementation of our inherent right of self-government. We look forward to working with Premier McGuinty and the new Government of Ontario to move forward in that direction."

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For further information: Beverley Newton, 613-798-1488. For further
details on R v. Powley, visit the Metis Nation of Ontario website:
www.metisnation.org